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Member Spotlight: Small Shop Summit Scholarship Winner, Rebecka Routh

Congratulations to Rebecka Routh, who attended Summit for the first time this year as a recipient of the 2016 AASP Small Shop Summit Scholarship. Currently the Resource Development Director at the Genesis School in Kansas City, Missouri, Rebecka serves her organization as development officer and advancement services lead.

“I would not have been able to attend Summit without the scholarship,” says Rebecka, “and I am so glad I was able to attend. I have found so many things that I can use.”

Rebecka’s journey to advancement services began by way of the Kansas City School district, where she worked with at-risk youth. Unfortunately, her well-laid plans for a career as an educator were interrupted by a series of personal losses that prompted her to re-assess her long-term goals. She soon realized that she had an affinity for philanthropic work, something she had been exercising through volunteer work with community organizations. Her interest in advancement grew as she began working as a manager of an early education program at the Salvation Army, and then as a grant writer for the United Way. Her career path recently came full circle when she was appointed Director of Resource Development at the Genesis School in Kansas City, Missouri. The position provided a welcome opportunity to grow as an advancement services professional in an environment with a strong educational mission of closing the digital divide.

AASP offers Summit scholarships each year to support Summit participation by members of smaller organizations as a way to add diversity to our professional community. Knowing that costs of attending Summit can be cost prohibitive for organizations with small budgets, the scholarship includes full registration, one year of dues to AASP, travel costs and a two-night hotel stay. We were honored to award Rebecka with the Small Shop Scholarship and have her along for the Summit experience.